Wavelet transforms are widely used in analysis, where they are known as “multiresolution analysis”, and in image and audio compression, where they are used as a pyramid coding method for lossy compression. The wavelets used are generally from a very small set of analytically designed wavelets, such as Daubechies wavelets, or quadrature mirror filters (“QMF”).
The wavelets currently used are not specific to applications and the images returned using these wavelets may lack precision (i.e. may be blurry).
For some applications, designing specific wavelets with special coding properties would be beneficial.